How To Play
Introducing The Cards There are a number of card types within the game. - Spells - Characters - Legendaries Characters Character cards have a strength value that represents their effectiveness in battle. They also have a number of abilities that can be activated during your preparation stage (unless otherwise stated). They also have keyword abilities ''which show passive abilities that can be shared by many cards. (See Keyword Abilities). Spells These are cards that you can use to support your position in the battle. They can strengthen your characters, weaken your opponent's and do many other things. Conditions These cards are similar to spells but represent natural events and actions. Legendaries These are powerful spell cards that heavily benefit your deck. They also represent your health. Positioning of the legendaries is key to your strategy's effectiveness. Setting Up The Game To play the game, you need a 40 card deck and 5 legendary cards. Place the deck in the deck zone on your field and place the five legendary cards into your legendary zones in an order that you feel they may benefit the game. (See Legendaries if you need guidance). To start the game, determine who is going first and then both players draw 5 cards. Neither player draws a card at the start of their first turn. Additionally, neither player can attack on their first turn. Next, before the first turn begins, each player must place a card into their central character zone from their hand. If they have none, they shuffle their hand into their deck and draw a new one until they can. After both players have a character on the field this way, they draw 1 card. This character played - and any subsequent characters in your central character zone - is your immortal for this game. Playing The Game The game consists of a series of turns between both players. A turn consists of a series of steps: 1) Turn Start: Draw a card. Any effects that resolve at the start of the turn resolve before drawing the card unless it says otherwise. 2) Preparation: Here, you play any of your cards you wish to play and activate any effects you wish to use during this preparation. You can do any of these things in any order. This is where you will recruit a character (if you wish to). 3) Attacking: Except on your first turn, your characters may declare attacks against your opponent's characters. (See Attacking). 4) Wake: This allows you to prepare for your opponent's turn. Any effects that activate during the wake can be used now. Think of this as a second preparation phase. You can recruit a character during this phase if you did not do so in your preparation phase. 5) End Turn: Any effects that activate when the turn ends activate now and then it becomes your opponent's turn. 6) End Round: If both players have already had a turn, the round ends and any effects that resolve at the end of the round happen now. Playing The term 'played' when mentioned on a character's card refers to it being recruited or summoned. Recruiting Recruiting is the process of playing a character from your hand. You can play one character from your hand during your turn. You can recruit any number of additional characters if card effects and abilities would allow you to do so but this is called Summoning. When you recruit a character, you must pay any cost - or '''Tribute' - listed on that card beforehand. Furthermore, that character must be subjected to Power Balancing (see below). There are other kinds of recruitment. (See Evolution). Summoning Summoning is the process of playing a character due to an effect or ability. This is different to recruiting. Any effects that trigger when a character is recruited do not activate. However, you must still pay any cost or tribute on that character. Attacking During your turn, you may want to make an attack - or series of attacks - in order to damage your opponent or to reduce the strength of their forces. For a character to attack, designate the attacker and target and dedicate (turn the card sideways) the attacker. Simply, if the attacker's strength is higher than the strength of the target, the target is hit by the target. Unless the target is an immortal, it is defeated when hit. If the target is a player's immortal, that player takes 1 damage. A defeated character is placed in the discard pile. Taking Damage When you take damage, either turn one of your facedown legendary cards faceup only if you have none already or discard your faceup legendary card. When you take damage, you must use the legendary whose in the lowest numbered legendary slot. (When you first take damage, flip (turn faceup) your legendary in zone 1. When you take your last damage to your legendary, you will discard the legendary card in zone 5. This will be your last legendary to take. If you take damage with no legendaries in your legendary zone, you lose the game. REMEMBER: This is not the same type of damage as when an effect or ability would deal a character damage. (See Damaging Characters Vs Reducing Strength). Ending The Game The game ends when a player takes damage when they no longer have any legendaries. Also, if a player no longer has enough cards in their deck to resolve an effect or ability, they lose the game. A player may also surrender at any time, in which case the game ends immediately and the other player wins. Damaging Characters Vs Reducing Strength Some effects and abilities refer to damaging characters. This is not the same as them taking damage from an attack. When a character takes damage this way, reduce their strength by that amount. Other effects may mention reducing a character's strength. In that instance, also reduce the character in question by the listed amount. These are two different pieces of terminology that refer to the hurting (damaging) and the crippling (reducing) of characters. Though they essentially do the same thing, they are different. REGARDLESS: If a character's strength becomes 0 due to either of these things they are discarded. NOTE: If an effect does not state that the damage or reduction lasts until the end of the turn, it is permanent. Dedicate The term dedicate refers to the action which a character has committed themselves to undertake during that turn. When a character attacks, or when a character instructs you to 'dedicate' it, turn the card sideways. A card that is dedicated by an effect cannot attack that turn. Power Balancing Neither player can recruit a character whose strength is higher than the combined strength of all opposing characters. For example, if both players begin the game with a character who has Strength:4000, then neither player can play characters whose strength is above 4000, until a player recruits another character with 4000 or less strength. EG If a player, with a 4000 strength character, recruits a 2000 strength character, then their opponent may recruit characters with 6000 strength or less. You may still recruit any number of characters (as long as you have the effects and abilities to do so).